Bias Attack near The Cage

Have been very busy the past few days, and didn’t have time to post this story about an assault downtown this weekend.

Here’s a discussion for you all: Whether this is a bias attack or not, the simple fact that it was an ASSAULT is what makes this incident bad. Whether it was anti-gay, a robbery or just plain lovers quarrel doesn’t change the fact that it was physically violent.

I’ve overheard some people who somehow think there is something different about this assault because the fact that it’s a “bias attack”. I disagree. There are just some people in this world that are stupid, and need/want/like to hurt others. Whether it be for money, jealousy or ignorance doesn’t make one assault any worse than another.

2 gay men attacked in Hoboken

Two gay men were attacked early Saturday morning in Hoboken in what police have labeled a “tragic bias” incident.

At about 3 a.m., the two male victims were embracing in front of 111 River Street, police said.

The men told police they had just left a well-known gay nightclub, The Cage, at 32 Newark St., when two other men sneaked up behind them.

The attackers started punching and kicking the men, yelling anti-gay, derogatory names, said Capt. Anthony Romano of the Hoboken police.

“They hit the two gentlemen because they were gay,” Romano said. “They punched them and kicked them while they were on the ground, kicking them to the head. They (the victims) were scared.”

The two men who were attacked were treated at Hoboken University Hospital, for scrapes and bruises, said police. The man who was kicked in the head had a contusion on his head, said police.

Bouncers from nearby Lana nightclub noticed the attack and chased the attackers to the corner of Second and River streets, where they held them until police arrived.

The two men, who were not from Hudson County, were arrested and charged with simple assault and bias intimidation and taken to the Hudson County Jail in Kearny, Romano said.

“It’s a tragic crime and the Hoboken Police Department will not tolerate this kind of behavior,” said Romano. “It’s an aberration in this town, luckily, but no one should be put upon for this kind of thing.”

And the followup/arrests:

Accused bias attackers identified

The two men were arrested Saturday and charged with bias crimes outside a well-known gay nightclub in Hoboken have been identified.

Shane Valle, 26, of Hackensack and Felix Fara Saadi, 25, of Mahwah, snuck up on and beat the two men who were embracing in front of 111 River St. around 2:40 a.m., police said today.

The victims said they had just left The Cage, at 32 Newark St., when their attackers began to punch and kick them while yelling anti-gay, derogatory names, police said.

Valle and Saadi were charged with simple assault and bias intimidation, police said. They are being held at the Hudson County jail in Kearny on $10,000 each, police said.

One aspect about this story that strikes me is the fact that the attatckers were from Hackensack and Mahwah respectively. They were not from Hoboken. This fact supports a trend I have observed over the past 5 years in this town. As Hoboken’s popularity as a bar and social scene ever increases, it seems to attract increasing numbers of trashy New Jerseyians who are too cheap to go out in New York and choose Hoboken instead as a slightly less costly alternative. That leaves us, the residents of Hoboken, to deal with these trashy degenerates who get drunk, piss on our streets, and take out their hatreds and biases on unsuspecting residents. The town has to be very careful to make sure a seedy underbelly doesn’t form as Hoboken continues to grow and gentrify.

In the United States federal prosecution is possible for hate crimes committed on the basis of a person’s race, color, religion, or nation origin when engaging in a federally protected activity.

This doesn’t mention protected classes of people recieving special rights. So, yes, you may pursue a bias prosecution against a black woman calling you a “white bitch” while slapping you silly.

This entry doesn’t mention sexual orientation and that is the concern, right?[/quote] At the federal level, gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgendered people are not considered to be a “protected class”. At the state level, here in NJ at least, they are. So, any type of crime that can be prosecuted against due to the discrimination of race, age and gender here in NJ, is also considered illegal if it was perpetrated against a g/l/b/t person.

My perception is that they seem to be born of straight, white privilege; a somewhat distorted view of others’ lot in life.[/quote] dunotar, since the group you describe continues to make up the vast MAJORITY of Americans…whose view is really distorted?

[quote comment=”36142″]It’s ridiculous to equate a fight between Crips and Bloods who hate each other with a gay bias attack. The difference is the gangs are at war with each other, whereas the homosexual victims are just trying to lead a normal life and are attacked because someone feels they don’t deserve to do so.[/quote]

No, it isn’t. There are plenty of innocent, non-gang-affiliated citizens who have been stabbed, punched, etc. for wearing red or blue and being ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’. These people are/were just trying to lead a normal life when some thug decided that they were insulting his gang’s honor so…he slashes their face with a razor. It’s happened many, many times.